If you want to see Lake Shore West reimagined as a safe, local street, please email City Council by June 14th and let them know you support short-term and long-term improvements to Lake Shore W and our Western Waterfront.
We did it. The past two days have been huge for fans of cycling and active transportation initiatives at City Hall! With the help of our volunteers, members, donors, supporters, plus City staff and City Councillors, Cycle Toronto was able to continue the momentum that was generated with the rapid installation of the popular ActiveTO program.
We did it! Yesterday was a big day for cycling at City Hall! Cycle Toronto is only able to push for these wins with the help of our supporters, so thank you to all of our volunteers, members, donors, supporters, petition signers, Councillor champions, City staff, and everyone who made this happen!
The impact of these changes to our city’s streets cannot be overstated. Here’s an overview of what happened and what’s next.
This could be the reality for cycling across much more of Toronto with your support.
City Council’s final Infrastructure and Environment Committee (IEC) meeting of the year is on December 2, and the agenda includes hundreds of pages of City staff recommendations related to cycling under three broad categories.
After many years, the harrowing stretch of Bloor from Sherbourne Street the Prince Edward Viaduct has been upgraded as part of ActiveTO! A wider, buffered bike lane has been installed already and concrete curb separation is coming soon. This improved connection will make hundreds of thousands of yearly trips by bike safer. Thanks to everyone that helped make this happen! Next step: Extending the Bloor bike lanes west and the Danforth bike lanes east.
Avenue Road just north of Bloor Street. Photo courtesy of Michael Aitkens/CBC
Last Wednesday, Miguel Joshua Escanan’s young life was taken while riding his bike on Avenue Road, metres beyond the end of ActiveTO bike lanes (and where a speedway begins). Avenue is not an anomaly; it is one of many six-lane highways cutting through Toronto that the City itself has identified as needing safety improvements.
Lake Shore Boulevard W is busier when open to people than when it's only for cars on weekends
Over the long weekend, Councillor Ford suggested cancelling ActiveTO — eliminating space for people. We responded on TV, radio, and in print that ActiveTO needs to stay, not be removed; the weekend ActiveTO road openings introduced space for people, relieving perpetually crowded multi-use trails, and scrapping the program means going back to packed, uncomfortable trails, increasing conflicts between users.
If you’ve had a chance to ride your bike in any of the new bike lanes installed last summer through ActiveTO, it’s easy to see just how much more comfortable these streets are to ride your bike on. They’re less dangerous, less stressful routes to get from your home to the grocery store or wherever else you want to go. It opens up the neighbourhoods around you.
